Suffolk County Probation Officers Help Maintain Safety at Caribbean Festival

Left to right: Probation Officers Brad McNichols, BMC-West Roxbury; Larry Plumer, Suffolk Superior; Leon Graves, BMC-Dorchester; and Jerome Ledbetter, Suffolk Superior. Suffolk County Probation Officers maintain a presence at 38th Annual Boston Caribbean Carnival.

Left to right: Boston Police Department Motorcyle Unit Police Officers pose with BMC-Dorchester Assistant Chief Probation Officer William "Billy" Stewart on Blue Hill Avenue parade route.

A photo of carnival participants dressed in red costumes.

Suffolk County Probation Officers joined with the Boston Police Department (BPD) at the 38th annual Boston Caribbean Festival last weekend to help maintain safety and identify court-involved individuals at the heavily-attended event which drew thousands of revelers this year.

Seven Probation Officers were positioned at the main intersections of the carnival parade route, which stretched from Warren Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Blue Hill Avenue and ended at Franklin Park. Probation Officers scanned faces for offenders known to them. Two Boston Municipal Court Chief Probation Officers: Anthony Gully of BMC-Roxbury and Bernard Fitzgerald of BMC-Dorchester were on stand-by to issue warrants in the event probationers violated their terms of probation.

“Probation Officers are in the community day and night. Their presence is a deterrent to crime,” said Suffolk County Regional Supervisor Mark McHale. “Our partnership with the Boston Police is a great one.”

McHale added, “I also want to commend the Chief Probation Officers and the Probation Officers who stepped up to the plate to help protect the community.”

Suffolk County Probation Officers have worked with the BPD for the past three years to reduce violence and crime at the festival.

“I want to thank Probation Officers for all of their hard work. The right message was sent to the “high-impact” players (gang-affiliated) and they seemed to listen,” said BPD Deputy Lieutenant Gary French.

A probation/police partnership initiative, “Late Night Probation,” preceded this year’s festival. As part of the Late Night initiative, Chief Probation Officers Gully of BMC-Roxbury, Mark Prisco of BMC-West Roxbury, and Regional Supervisor Mark McHale went out with members of the Youth Violent Strike Force Unit of the Boston Police Department late night into the next morning. This pre-emptive measure was an attempt to remove violent offenders, many with gang affiliations and on warrant status, from the streets. For more information about “Late Night Probation,” read press release and view photos at www.mass.gov/courts/probation.

Jaza Broadwater, Leon Graves, and Aisha Johnson all of BMC-Dorchester; Brad McNichols of West Roxbury; Larry Plumer and Jerome Ledbetter of Suffolk Superior; Frank Larmond and Robert Nagle of Suffolk Juvenile; and BMC-Dorchester Assistant Chief Probation Officer William Stewart were among the Probation Officers who helped to ensure safety at this family-oriented festival which attracts people from across the country and abroad.